thedrifter
05-28-06, 07:12 AM
Given to me, from hubby..fontman
Thank You Mark!
Ellie
Go and Find a Soldier's Grave
By Ralph Kinney Bennett
26 May 2006
Make this Memorial Day really memorable.
Go and find a soldier's grave.
It shouldn't be too hard. If you're not near a military cemetery, just
about any cemetery will do.
Look for the little American flags fluttering by the stones or the
little bronze markers placed by the veterans' organizations.
Or walk the rows and look for those stones that impart terse histories
of short lives -- "Killed in Action on the Island of Iwo Jima," or "KIA
Republic of Viet Nam," or "Iraq 2003."
I know, I know. You do plan to watch that short parade, and the
ceremony at the flagpole. But then relatives are going to be over for that big
cookout. There's baseball and auto
racing on TV, not to mention the "Memorial Day Mattress Event" or the
"Memorial Day SUV Salesathon."
Look, just take an hour away from all that. An hour. Go out early in
the morning if you have to.
Go and find a soldier's grave.
Put some flowers there. Or just pause and say a prayer. Nothing
elaborate. "Thanks" will do.
Or just stop and think about what it means; what it really means to
give your life, in its prime, for your country. Look at that name there on
the stone. Think what might have been...
and what was.
Some of these men and women were in uniform by choice. Some because
they had no choice. Some were heroes. Some were not.
But they were there where all hell was breaking loose. They probably
had no idea they were giving "the last full measure of devotion." They
just had some instant, desperate job
to do. In a cockpit or a turret or a hole in the ground.
Did they grasp the "policy implications" of their presence on the high
seas, in the air or on some foreign soil? Did they have time for a
curse or a prayer when they saw the muzzle
flashes or heard that rushing sound, or when the bomb sent the Humvee
into the air?
Go and find a soldier's grave.
You can have that hamburger and beer later, and maybe relax in the
hammock and not give a thought to that one whose life span is now an
incised line in stone -- that one who
represented you, like no Congressman could.
Go and find a soldier's grave.
Remember what duty costs.
Then just bow your head and, as Gen. George S. Patton said, do not
mourn that such men died, but thank God that such men lived.
Semper Fidelis,
Mark
Thank You Mark!
Ellie
Go and Find a Soldier's Grave
By Ralph Kinney Bennett
26 May 2006
Make this Memorial Day really memorable.
Go and find a soldier's grave.
It shouldn't be too hard. If you're not near a military cemetery, just
about any cemetery will do.
Look for the little American flags fluttering by the stones or the
little bronze markers placed by the veterans' organizations.
Or walk the rows and look for those stones that impart terse histories
of short lives -- "Killed in Action on the Island of Iwo Jima," or "KIA
Republic of Viet Nam," or "Iraq 2003."
I know, I know. You do plan to watch that short parade, and the
ceremony at the flagpole. But then relatives are going to be over for that big
cookout. There's baseball and auto
racing on TV, not to mention the "Memorial Day Mattress Event" or the
"Memorial Day SUV Salesathon."
Look, just take an hour away from all that. An hour. Go out early in
the morning if you have to.
Go and find a soldier's grave.
Put some flowers there. Or just pause and say a prayer. Nothing
elaborate. "Thanks" will do.
Or just stop and think about what it means; what it really means to
give your life, in its prime, for your country. Look at that name there on
the stone. Think what might have been...
and what was.
Some of these men and women were in uniform by choice. Some because
they had no choice. Some were heroes. Some were not.
But they were there where all hell was breaking loose. They probably
had no idea they were giving "the last full measure of devotion." They
just had some instant, desperate job
to do. In a cockpit or a turret or a hole in the ground.
Did they grasp the "policy implications" of their presence on the high
seas, in the air or on some foreign soil? Did they have time for a
curse or a prayer when they saw the muzzle
flashes or heard that rushing sound, or when the bomb sent the Humvee
into the air?
Go and find a soldier's grave.
You can have that hamburger and beer later, and maybe relax in the
hammock and not give a thought to that one whose life span is now an
incised line in stone -- that one who
represented you, like no Congressman could.
Go and find a soldier's grave.
Remember what duty costs.
Then just bow your head and, as Gen. George S. Patton said, do not
mourn that such men died, but thank God that such men lived.
Semper Fidelis,
Mark